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The Golden State Warriors’ David West (3) and Kevin Durant (35) defend against the San Antonio Spurs’ Pau Gasol (16) in the first quarter of Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals at Oracle Arena on Tuesday, May 16, 2017. (Dan Honda/Bay Area News Group)

SAN ANTONIO — There were always two reasons, primarily, that the Spurs don’t matchup well with the Warriors. Those reasons are called LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol.

There was a notion that size and physicality would hurt the Warriors. But the truth is speed and athleticism hurts the Warriors. Size doesn’t quite give the Warriors fits. And Gasol especially doesn’t.

With Zaza Pachulia out and JaVale McGee grouped with the starters, that left David West as the only available big man to play with the second unit. And in the second half, with McGee, in essence, having done all he could do, it was West or go small. That seems to play right into the hands of Gasol, who is 7-foot and skilled around the basket.

Yet West won the matchup. Gasol looked older than 36 and though he had 12 points and 10 rebounds in 20-plus minutes, he was a liability on the defensive end. He was exploited by the Warriors, creating the openings for Durant. David West — who had six points, four rebounds and five assists in just shy of 18 minutes — helped facilitate the exploiting of Gasol.

This is why the David Lee injury hurt the Spurs. San Antonio has no option but to play Gasol — who despite his good-looking numbers, aided by a couple tip-ins was a minus-8, the worst of all Spurs reserves. West was a plus-6.

West, who is but two months younger than Gasol, is much more spry than West. Also, he can do damage in the high post with his passing. West can pull Gasol away from the rim. And when he’s out there, he’s helpless. Near the basket, Gasol wins the matchup but not enough to take West off the floor. West can bang with him and push him off a spot. He can’t get off the floor, so anything near the rim Gasol can have his way. But West can make him work and limit his opportunities at the rim.

And because West has a midrange jumper and a gift of passing, he was able to take advantage of Gasol’s fish-out-of-water defense in the pick-and-roll.

If West can’t do that, the Warriors are forced to go small and maybe Gasol has an even greater advantage inside to milk. But instead, West’s production — which included an end-of-quarter 3-pointer — nullified the productive output by Gasol. So all of that excellent grit and execution by the starters to stay close with the Warriors’ starters, the Spurs’ bench couldn’t sustain.

It’s not like this matchup was the difference between winning and losing. And arguably the Kevin Durant-Jonathon Simmons matchup was the sexier one. But Durant’s flourishing in the third quarter came with David West on the court, and a big chunk of it with Pau Gasol on the court. Durant, West and the Warriors preyed on Gasol to get Durant past the formidable defense of Simmons.